Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic ArtHyde, Walter Woodburn
History
Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic Art
Hyde, Walter Woodburn
Olympics; Sculpture, Greek; Sports -- Greece
[Illustration: A B
FIG. 61.—Bronze Head of Boxer (?), from Olympia. National Museum,
Athens.]
Long ago, I referred the life-size bronze portrait-like head of a
boxer or pancratiast found at Olympia, now in the Athens Museum (Figs.
61A and B),[1797] to one of two statues of the pancratiast Kapros
mentioned by Pausanias.[1798] The remnant of a wild-olive crown in the
hair proves that it comes from the statue of an Olympic victor. Its
bruised appearance may, however, betoken the punishment administered by
the gloves of a boxer rather than by the bare fists of a pancratiast.
That Greek sculpture was not always ideal we have seen from the
description of the _Seated Boxer_ of the Museo delle Terme (Pl. 16 and
Fig. 27). This peculiarly life-like head is another example of the
same realism; it would be hard to name a more brutal and repellent
piece from the whole range of Greek sculpture. The profession of this
bruiser is evident in every feature, for the sculptor has betrayed it
by the swollen ears, flat nose, thick neck, swollen cheeks, projecting
under lip, frowning brows, and unkempt hair and beard. All these
traits—especially the treatment of the eyes—give to it the sullen
gloomy look so characteristic of boxers and pancratiasts.[1799] The man
appears to be awaiting the attack, his contracted brows showing alert
expectation, and his closed lips great determination. Furtwaengler,
Bulle, Flasch, and others have dated it in the fourth century B. C.,
and are fain to see in it the work of an artist of the immediate
circle of Lysippos or Lysistratos;[1800] but its exaggerated realism
seems rather to point to a later period, not earlier than the third
century B. C.[1801] The bronze foot of a victor statue also found at
Olympia (Fig. 62)[1802] has been assigned by Furtwaengler to one of the
statues of Kapros, an ascription which we also have followed.[1803]
The position of this foot shows—as an experiment with a living model
has disclosed—great movement, which makes it obvious that it comes
from a statue in lively motion, probably of a boxer or pancratiast. It
belongs to the statue of a strong man of coarse build; there is not the
slightest trace of unnecessary flesh on it, but the whole is vigorous
muscle, even the swollen veins being clearly visible in the photograph.
While Furtwaengler finds its stylistic parallels in the copies of the
Pergamene works of the third century B. C., _e. g._, the _Dying Gaul_
statues, the material and form of the base fitting that period, Wolters
emphasizes its stylistic analogy to the bronze head just discussed.
[Illustration: FIG. 62.—Bronze Foot of a Victor Statue, from Olympia.
Museum of Olympia.]
The monuments which represent equestrian victors will be left for
another chapter.
CHAPTER V.
MONUMENTS OF HIPPODROME AND MUSICAL VICTORS.
PLATES 26-27 AND FIGURES 63-67.
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